College of Science and Engineering

As the sun rises and 8 a.m. gleams on her clock, Melissa Rice prepares for the next eight hours of her day. Rice’s agenda for the day includes conference calls with scientists from around the world, as well as planning for the future of the Mars rover: Curiosity.
Rice is not only an…

In preparation to take the first group of Western Washington University students out aboard the school’s newest research vessel, Capt. Nathan Schwark spent Wednesday afternoon doing a test run in Burrows Bay.
Engines synced? Check.
Monitors on? Check.
Winch lowering? Check.…

The shellfish pathogen that hit California’s Channel Islands in the 1980s began to quickly kill one of the tideland’s most important animals — black abalone.

But what unnerved scientists was what they learned next: Whenever ocean waters grew warmer, the deadly…

These are exciting days for the earthbound scientists who study Mars. Data from a NASA rover creeping across the red planet’s surface is rewriting our understanding of Mars’ geological history and offering tantalizing clues to the possibility that the planet once harbored life — or, possibly,…